Tough for all but one

ALBERT Falls was the most recent stop in the Bett season, with the third event of the year taking place on yet another boiling hot, late summer’s day. The heat was definitely the undoing of most of the teams, as a mediocre early morning bite was all the anglers really had to capitalise on before the heat took over and the bite shut down.

The average sacks weighed were by far the lowest we have seen at this venue in the recent past and many teams, including Garth and I, found our pre-fishing haunts not as lucrative as we had envisaged. Garth and I had a shocker of an event with our so-called hot spots only being hot in temperature, not action!

We struggled to piece anything solid together after this and finished mid-field among the 80 teams participating.

Carl Gutzeit and partner were excluded from the lack-of-fish frustrations with a catch weighing 10,5 kg, including a giant of 4,4 kg.

These fish were caught off a deep rocky area in the river mouth section of the dam and secured a number one finish for Team Evinrude Rapala, ousting the nearest competitors by four kilograms.

Taking second place was the much talked about father-and-son combination of Eugene and Gareth Potgieter, racking up their second top three finish in the first three events.

With the relentless heat and extreme fishing pressure over the Easter period, the fishing at Albert Falls is still somewhat dismal with most anglers scratching around with minimal reward.

The offshore bite still remains non-existent to say the least, putting most of the boats on the banks, another contributing factor to the poor fishing.

Inanda Dam has been slightly better with more consistent catches being reported. The good news is that fish are being caught on the banks as well as on offshore areas down to 12 m, making most summer patterns productive.

By the sounds of things, the cleaner water on the dam wall side of the dam seems to be holding the highest concentration of fish.

Any vegetation found along these banks is where you need to concentrate and although the fish are smaller on average, they are still great fun to catch.

Garth and I recently held a Bass Fishing seminar at Basil Manning in Durban with great success, attracting over 55 eager-to-learn bass hunters. We shared tactics and answered questions before moving to the sales floor to give some first-hand advice.

We will be hosting another seminar at The Kingfisher in Durban on April 10 at 9 am. Towards the end of May, we will be teaming up with Protea Angler Martin de Kock to present an informative seminar at The Fish Eagle in Pietermaritzburg. Watch this space for more details.

While on the subject of the Fish Eagle, make sure you check out their new complete range of Spro, Picasso, Kamakazee and Tru-Tungsten baits.

So get out on the dam and catch some bass, and remember to release your catch alive to prolong the sustainability of our resource.

E-mail me with reports, photographs and questions at zorthewitt@hotmail.com

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